Frasch reserves

After reviewing the supply situation, the President s Materials Policy Commission pubUshed estimates of reserves and concluded that Frasch reserves are not large enough to supply the growing requirements for many years and by 1975 other sulfur minerals would become increasing important sources of supply. 

Sulfur for commercial purposes is derived mainly from native elemental sulfur mined by the Frasch process. Large quantities of sulfur are also recovered from the roasting of metal sulfides and the refining of crude oil, i.e., from the sulfur by-products of purified sour natural gas and petroleum (the designation sour is generally associated with high-sulfur petroleum products). Reserves of elemental sulfur in evaporite and volcanic deposits and of sulfur associated with natural gas,... 

Pyrite is the most abundant of the metal sulfides. For many years, until the Frasch process was developed, pyrite was the main source of sulfur and, for much of the first half of the twentieth century, comprised over 50% of world sulfur production. Pyrite reserves are distributed throughout the world and known deposits have been mined in about 30 countries. Possibly the largest pyrite reserves in the world are located in southern Spain, Portugal, and the CIS. Large deposits are also in Canada, Cyprus, Finland, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, the United States, and Yugoslavia. However, the three main regional producers of pyrites continue to be Western Europe Eastern Europe, including the CIS and China. 

In the United States, the situation was in many ways different. With its large sulfur, natural gas, phosphate, and even potash resources, America s fertilizer industry rested on a sound base. It was an exporter of minerals and fertilizers, and did not have to worry to the same extent as Europe s industry about competing imports from Socialist countries. But reserves of sulfur extracted by the Frasch process have been depleted in Louisiana and Texas, and President Ronald Reagan s payment in kind (PIK) farm-acreage cuts reduced the fertilizer requirement of American farmers. These farmers are also much in debt and are having trouble selling their products on saturated markets. 

Throughout the World War II years, great demands were made on the Frasch industry to supply the war effort with its large productive capacity and substantial reserves of sulfur. After the war ended, Frasch sulfur in Mexico, sour gas sulfur in Canada, France, and the United States, and sulfur from expanded refining of sour crudes challenged successfully the pre-World War II dominance of the U.S. Frasch sulfur producers. 

Union Texas Petroleum was the last of the successor companies to Union Sulfur. Union Sulfur did not fold when its sulfur reserves were depleted. When the mine first closed, Union Sulfur prospered becoming an oil and gas exploration and production company. A major source of revenue to the company was the oil reserves found at Sulfur Mine. For a long time they kept the name Union Sulfur even though no longer in the sulfur business. The company name later changed several times-Union Sulfur and Oil in 1950 Union Oil and Gas in 1955 Union Texas Natural Gas in 1960-before becoming part of Allied Chemical in 1962. Allied Chemical spun off the division in 1992, through an 840 million IPO. Union Texas Petroleum had sales of one billion dollars when taken over by ARCO (now part of BP) in May 1998 for 3.3 billion. This is what had become of the dream of Herman Frasch. 

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